I'm Dancing in the Mirror and Singing in the Shower (Becky G)
by Reader's Inflammation
Summary: "So we've never met but our showers are on opposite sides of the same apartment wall so sometimes we're showering at the same time and we sing duets." AU


When Carlos walked into the bathroom, he heard singing. He looked around for a second and then realized that it was coming through his wall. He knew that there was another apartment on the opposite side of the wall, but did not know to whom it belonged since it was his first day in his new home.

Interested, Carlos leaned in close to the wall behind his shower, and heard the lyrics pretty clearly:

 _These and more than these._

 _Dig in deeper._

 _These and more than these._

 _You gotta dig in deeper._

He has never heard that song before in his life. Well, Night Vale _was_ pretty different from anywhere else in America, so it wouldn't be too far-fetched to assume that they would have different music.

The man kept singing the song over and over again until he got out of the shower, and, presumably, went to bed.

The next morning Carlos got situated in his new lab and met his new team. After spending the morning getting Carlos introduced to everyone and everything, they all caught lunch in the break room in back. One of the scientists picked up a pizza from Big Rico's next door, and they all ate while listening to the Night Vale Community Radio broadcast that Dave had turned on.

Near the end of lunch, the host—Cecil—had put on the Weather Report, which was just a song. That was it. Not weather, though the song was about rain, but it hadn't looked like it was going to rain outside. Still, the song itself was _very_ catchy and Carlos found himself humming and singing under his breath all day long.

Everything had been set up in his new apartment as far as utilities go while Carlos had been at work, thanks to his new landlord. This was great news because Carlos couldn't wait to take a nice, long, hot shower. And this is what he did right as he got home.

A few minutes into his sensual shower, Carlos heard it. The person on the other side of the wall. They had turned on the shower head. And now they were singing.

Carlos immediately noticed something about the song. It was the exact same song that _he_ had been singing all day long—the one from the radio show. Carlos listened along for a couple minutes. Then he started to sing beneath his breath. Then he got louder and louder until he and his neighbor were practically singing a duet in their respective showers.

 _Waiting for the bus._

 _There's a grey one, blue one, a red one._

 _All of 'em turned away._

 _I've been waiting for the bus._

 _Gotta catch a bus, gotta watch news, got a regimented plan for the day._

 _Bus._

It was great fun, but Carlos eventually had to get out of the shower, and it looked like his shower song partner did, too.

The next day, Carlos made sure to catch the Weather Report. And, sure enough, that night, he and his neighbor had the time of their life singing that song in their shower duet.

 _Bill and Annie fought the urge._

 _They saw each other often._

 _She was there in black._

 _The day Bill's wife lay in her coffin._

 _By then she'd gotten married._

 _By then she'd moved away._

 _She'd asked Bill for his blessings._

 _And he'd said it was okay._

This went on for quite a while, and it was wonderful.

Then, the incident at the Desert Flower Bowling Alley and Arcade Fun Complex happened. Carlos had missed Cecil's radio broadcast that day, but it was no matter to Carlos if he had heard the Weather or not. His neighbor would have already taken his shower by the time Carlos had returned from the Arby's with Cecil. He'll just have to catch the next one.

Once home, Carlos immediately stripped all of his clothes and jumped into the shower. Then the most confusing thing happened. He heard his neighbor turn on his shower. It made no sense; it was well past midnight. Carlos had his convoluted reasons for showering this late at night, but he didn't think that many people would even still be up at this time. Even the people from Jeremy Godfrey's birthday party would have been sound asleep by now.

The only people out this late were him and Cecil. Then, Carlos began to piece it together. He abruptly grabbed his towel, turned off his shower, and ran into his bedroom to throw clothes on. He left his apartment and knocked on his neighbor's door loudly many times in a row, and then waited. He knew that it was rude, but he just had to know for sure.

And sure enough, Carlos heard footsteps approaching the door. And even more sure enough, the man who opened the door was, in fact, Cecil Palmer. Carlos couldn't believe his eyes. And apparently, neither could Cecil.

"Carlos!" he exclaimed, pulling his robe closed as he fully opened the door. "Why are you here? And how did you know where I lived?"

"Cecil, don't you see?" Carlos asked excitedly, which, to be fair, was not as obvious a question to Cecil as it was to Carlos, since Carlos had already figured it out. "I'm your shower duet partner! Every night, we always sing the song from the Weather Report together!"

"What? That—that's _you_?" Cecil asked, dropping his hand in disbelief, letting the top of his robe fall open. Carlos nodded excitedly.

"Wow!" Cecil practically yelled, in the middle of the night, nonetheless. "This is amazing! We're actually _neighbors_! Who would've thought?"

Carlos was equally surprised. "So," he started. "Now that we're neighbors and all—or since we've—um, I guess that we could—uh, do—do you want to—um, come—in, I mean, to my apartment. Or maybe—maybe I should ask this not in the middle of the night—sorry." Carlos couldn't stop rambling and was just about to run back into his apartment when Cecil laughed and put his hand on Carlos's arm to silence him.

"I would love to come over, Carlos," Cecil said. "But you look very tired—probably because you almost died tonight. But can we maybe get dinner? Like at Gino's or somewhere?"

"Yeah, no," Carlos fumbled before he caught himself. "Dinner sounds wonderful. And Gino's is great. I—I can't wait."

Cecil smiled at Carlos's dumbstruck grin. "Great, I'll, um, I guess I'll text you then." Carlos nodded and they both bid each other a goodnight before heading back into their respective apartments, both extremely excited for their first date.

* * *

"So we've never met but our showers are on opposite sides of the same apartment wall so sometimes we're showering at the same time and we sing duets." AU


End file.
